Girls: The End Of Fran & Hannah

Girls Season 5, Episode 8 Recap: Is This Really The End For Fran & Hannah?!

Well, apparently Shosh is never going to meet Yoshi's grandmother or pretend to lose her virginity to him, because she is back in the U.S. — and not happy about it.

"Homeward Bound" opens with Shosh at the airport in New York. She's still rocking Harajuku girl style, and it definitely seems as though her transition back into American culture is going to be a system shock.

Speaking of American culture: Fran and Hannah are headed out on a classic U.S. trip for the summer, having rented an RV and hopped on the road. Fran is psyched to spend three blissful months exploring the country in a camper, and at first it seems like Hannah is, too — that is, until she insists they pull off at a rest stop so she can use the bathroom. She barricades herself inside the women's toilets, and sends Fran a text message saying that she doesn't want to go on the trip: They should just break up.

Fran gets the text while he's waiting for Hannah to wrap up in the bathroom, and heads in after her. She runs away; he chases after her; they wind up in the woods — where they finally break up. After giving Hannah a well-deserved "fuck you," Fran gets back on the road, leaving Hannah in her pajamas in the woods, somewhere in upstate New York. (It's worth mentioning that he offered to drive her back to the city, and she said she'd find her own ride back.) And thus ends the ballad of Hannah and Fran — for now, at least.

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Hannah gives Marnie a call, but Marnie's in the studio with Desi, who has gone back to not speaking to her. Marnie can't come pick up Hannah, so Hannah calls Jessa, who doesn't answer the phone (either because she's studying, or because they are not past their issues). So Ray winds up driving his coffee truck several hours from Brooklyn to collect Hannah, who is literally curled up in the fetal position by the side of the road when he finds her.

Can we talk for a minute about how Hannah may or may not be having some kind of mental breakdown? She's doing a lot of acting out lately, between the vagina flash, the roadside breakup, and what happens soon after she gets into Ray's truck. Hannah and Ray are talking on the drive about whether or not she did the right thing breaking up with Fran, and Ray tells her that sometimes you just have to follow your instincts.

Well, in that moment, Hannah's instinct is to try giving Ray road head, as a "thank you" for being such a good friend to her all these years. Ray tries to get her to stop, but when it becomes clear that she's going to do this regardless of his protests, he quiets down and tries to enjoy it. But as that's happening, he veers off the road, crashing the coffee truck into a ditch — where it tips over. Ray and Hannah are fine, but Hannah doesn't seem to appreciate that she's actually the source of all this trouble.

Nor does she seem appropriately sorry for the fact that Ray's truck — into which, he explains, he poured $50,000 — is all busted up. (When he asks her how much she thinks a new coffee truck costs, she ballparks it around $600, evidence of how very out of touch with reality she is these days.) Ray is understandably ticked off. Then, to make matters worse, Hannah hops into a car with a stranger driving back to the city, because she doesn't want to wait for the tow company. She leaves Ray alone upstate, with the wreckage she caused, and heads back to Brooklyn.

Back in the city, Adam drops by to check in on his sister and the baby at Laird's place. He's been calling Caroline for a couple days and she hasn't been picking up the phone — which, Adam discovers, is because she's taken off. Laird just assumed that she was off doing her own thing for a bit, Caroline-style. But Adam unearths a note that she left, which wound up under the fridge. In it, she tells Laird that she loves him and their child, but that she's afraid she might hurt the baby. The truth is, it sounds like she's exhibiting some classic signs of postpartum depression. Laird is heartbroken but now very worried about Caroline, so he heads out the door to look for her, leaving Adam behind to watch the baby.

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Adam — not wanting to leave Caroline and Laird's apartment — calls Jessa to help him out and pick up a few supplies, including formula. The scenes between the two of them in this episode make their maturity gap very obvious: Jessa is awkward with the baby and shows up with whole milk instead of formula; Adam is very tender toward his niece and knowledgeable about what she needs. At some point, Hannah calls Jessa, and Jessa confesses that she's at Laird's apartment with Adam. Hannah asks Jessa if she's fucking Adam, and Jessa says yes. Hannah hangs up the phone.

Later, the baby spits up on Jessa and she has a total freak-out, running to the bathroom and yelling at Adam to come help her. Adam stands in the living room, looking a little like he's having a realization about Jessa — and also maybe about growing up. "You're an adult. She's a baby. Why do you need more help than a baby?" he asks her, while cradling his niece. Jessa looks a little perplexed, and then embarrassed.

While all this is happening, Shosh has settled in at a sushi spot where she used to go to with Scott — when, of course, he comes ambling in with a friend and takes a seat next to her by the bar. (Remember that time she stood him up at the airport? Ouch.) Scott's being really nice to her, for some inexplicable reason, asking what her next steps are going to be, and Shosh tells him she's trying to get on welfare. That's when he gets pissed and basically calls her out for being a total dick, which, to be fair, she's definitely being right now. He storms out of the restaurant, leaving Shosh some food for thought about privilege.

Marnie isn't having a good day, either: Turns out, Desi has a new girlfriend, played by Lisa Bonet.

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(What are the terms of her Tuck Everlasting deal with the devil, anyway? And where can I sign up?)

The reason that Desi isn't speaking to Marnie? He and his new lady have decided that he should just pretend Marnie doesn't exist when they aren't singing or directly dealing with music stuff. Well, that's one way to cut an ex out of your life.

Oh, and by the way, it turns out that Ray (and your mom) were right: Don't get into cars with strangers, because they may have a gun casually hanging out in the backseat.

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Although, in this case, it turns out that Hannah hitched with a guy who snatched the gun from his ex-girlfriend after she threatened him with it. He tells Hannah he's heading to NYC to escape his abusive relationship. Hannah also starts opening up to this dude, who has clearly been through some shit, about her own friend struggles, which frankly seem petty in comparison — especially as they get closer to NYC and her comrade starts getting starry-eyed.

For a second, Hannah drops the whole jaded New Yorker 'tude and sees the city lights anew. "It’s a good place to start over," he says. She nods in agreement.